Thursday, November 24, 2011

A fascinating blog post by Andrew Dermont on the New York Times site ('Me and My Man Shed') looks at two shedworking structures built by friends out of recycled/reclaimed materials. Here's a snippet:

"According to James B. Twitchell, the author of “Where Men Hide,” men were yearning to get away long before Thoreau went into the woods. The reason that men like Palace and Pokorny are seeking solitude in their garden sheds may also be an indication of a societal void left behind by the dying union halls and Elks lodges of years past.

“Society today doesn’t provide men the kinds of environments where they can behave the way they would like when they’re alone or socializing with other men,” says Lionel Tiger, an emeritus professor of anthropology at Rutgers University. He suggests that the circumstances of many men lead them to want to find an outlet. “The man shed is a physical rendition of a larger symbolism also found in macho video games,” he says."

Well worth a browse.
----------------------------------------------------------------------Thursday posts are sponsored by Atelier garden studios which are sustainable, stylish, flexible, functional and future proofed